The embargo has had zero positive effect. Why pointlessly punish the people and strangle their economic livelihood just because you hate the government? We don’t do it to other countries with equally bad or worse governments. After reaching half a century it’s pretty clear it was pointless torture.

And besides, I’m not sure if there’s a single case of such actions truly helping the people. Authoritarians thrive when they can point to another country as their source of economic troubles. America’s greatest success came from endlessly pushing its consumer goods and media at other countries.